Court officials mourn the loss of judge

Friends mourned for Judge Rusty Ladd, who died Friday from injuries suffered in a morning motorcycle crash.

Hospital officials would not confirm his death, but longtime friend and former trial partner Matt Powell said Ladd had died.

A court official said the judges and county commissioners had all been notified Friday evening.

Ladd, 59, was a successful prosecutor, judge for more than a decade and a selfless advocate for the Lubbock homeless.

His friends talked about his integrity, sense of duty and the intense love he had for his family.

“The world was a better place because he was here,” Powell said.

Powell, Lubbock County criminal district attorney, said Ladd’s personal qualities are what also made him a prodigious prosecutor.

Ladd once got a conviction on a murder case in which the body to this day has not been located.

What made him a good trial lawyer was that he was very genuine and very honest, Powell said, adding that Ladd’s character resonated with juries as much as it did his friends.

“It’s a tremendous loss, in my opinion,” Powell said. “Just the quality of man — more than judge or lawyer or anything else like that — just an extremely good man.”

Ladd loved everyone in his family and cared for them deeply, Judge Jim Bob Darnell said.

Darnell’s voice cracked as he talked about his fellow jurist.

“Rusty was a great guy,” Darnell said. “He had a lot of passion and cared a great deal about what he did.”

Lubbock County Court Administrator David Slayton said Ladd continued to show a tremendous sense of duty even after his crash.

In one of the last communications anyone had with Ladd, the judge asked a hospital employee to get in touch with his court coordinator to make sure the people scheduled to appear in his court at 9 a.m. were informed of why he wouldn’t be there, Slayton said.

“That was the kind of man Rusty Ladd was,” he added. “He was dedicated to ensuring that all parties who appeared before him had a fair trial and an opportunity to be heard in court.”

Outside the courthouse, Ladd was known for his work with the Lubbock homeless.

For more than 20 years, Ladd befriended, worked with and fed people who didn’t have a home. He volunteered through Carpenter’s Church, a downtown ministry dedicated to serving the poor.

He had an earnest sense of empathy for the less fortunate, once telling a reporter, “We’re all just one paycheck away from being homeless.”

Ladd was taken to Covenant Medical Center with serious injuries after the motorcycle crash about 8 a.m. Friday at 17th Street and Bangor Avenue.

He was wearing a helmet.

His injuries were initially not believed to be life-threatening, but Ladd’s condition worsened to critical Friday afternoon, according to a spokeswoman for Covenant.

Court officials were notified of his death at about 5:30 p.m. Friday evening.

Ladd was riding a 2009 Kawasaki motorcycle east on 17th Street when 17-year-old Katie Cunningham failed to yield the right of way at a yield sign while traveling south on Bangor, according to a police report. Her Jeep SUV collided with the motorcycle.

No citations were issued nor charges filed pending the completion of the investigation.